(a) Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate generally to flat panel displays. More specifically, embodiments of the present invention relate to thin film transistor array panels with improved aperture ratio, and methods of their manufacture.
(b) Description of the Related Art
A flat panel display such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display, an electrophoretic display, and a plasma display typically includes a plurality of pairs of field generating electrodes and an electro-optical active layer interposed therebetween. The liquid crystal display includes a liquid crystal layer as the electro-optical active layer, and the organic light emitting diode display includes an organic emission layer as the electro-optical active layer. One of the field generating electrodes is generally connected to a switching element to receive an electric signal, and the electro-optical active layer converts the electric signal into an optical signal, thereby displaying a portion of an image.
The flat panel display may include a display panel on which a thin film transistor is formed. Multilayered electrodes, a semiconductor, or the like are patterned on a thin film transistor array panel. In general, one or more masks are used in the patterning process.
Meanwhile, to manufacture high resolution flat panel displays, it is desirable to reduce the pixel size. However, reducing pixel size while still maintaining sufficient aperture ratio, or open areas between the constituent elements of the array panel, has proven challenging.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.